nd it came to pass, in the early days of the world, that Anz looked
across the land and saw that the forces of chaos were spreading like a
foul plague throughout the kingdoms. The lord of deformity had given his
forces great powers and terrible weapons, and the forces of law were
being whittled away. At daybreak, Anz stepped forth, and held his crystal sword, Adjudicator, level out in front of him, at arm's length. It caught the sun's light, and began to glow with the power that Anz poured into it. Anz stood motionless from dawn until noon, and the shadow of the blade grew more and more distinct, until the shadow could not be told from the source.
Anz realized that an exact duplicate of Adjudicator would be too great a weapon to loose on the world, but that there would be times when a weapon of that power would be needed to stop the forces of chaos. As the sun reached its peak, he rotated his hand, and, just as a prism splits light into colors, the shadow of Adjudicator split into six swords, each a mighty weapon in its own right.
Adjudicator, like its wielder, is a perfect representative of all the aspects of law. The six shadows, like the colors formed by a prism, each embody one of the six virtues of Anz: Justice, Faith, Obedience, Leadership, Honesty, and Honor.
Anz gave the six swords to six of his greatest champions, telling them of the power contained in each weapon, and sent his champions forth to defeat the hordes of chaos. The hordes were driven back, as the power of the swords was sufficient to defeat all but the greatest prince of chaos, and the forces of law were greatly heartened by this sign that their god was with them.
All was not well, however. The lord of madness saw the defeat of his armies, and created Ges'tch'tar'nal, greatest of the chaos warriors. One by one, Ges'tch'tar'nal slew the wielders of the swords, and, in his pride, he had his servitors deliver the blades to Andor, greatest of the sword-wielders, whom Ges'tch'tar'nal had vowed to kill last.
Andor was surprised to receive the first of the blades that had been taken from the fallen. He grasped the new blade, while wearing the other on his back, and was struck with a vision. Holding one of the crystal blades in each hand, he pressed them together, and quickly shut his eyes in response to the blaze of light that emanate from the blades. When he opened his eyes, the two weapons had become one.
As blade after blade was delivered to him (for none could predict the movements of the chaos warrior), Andor joined them to his sword, until he had assembled the six shadows into a perfect copy of the mighty Adjudicator.
After the last blade had been joined into Adjudicator, Andor waited until the chaos-spawn came to him. In the dark of the night, Ges'tch'tar'nal shimmered into being in the center of Andor's camp. Andor took up Adjudicator, and met the creature in battle. Crystal blade met blood-red battleaxe again and again as the two fought, neither able to wound the other. Finally, the metal of Ges'tch'tar'nal's weapon shattered against the untainted crystal of Adjudicator, sending a shard of metal deep into Andor's leg. Andor plunged Adjudicator into the creature's chest, not noticing the blood pouring from his thigh. Both warriors fell in the same instant, and watched the life fade from each other's eyes as they lay in the sand.
Attempts were made to find the crystal blade after the battle, but to no avail. Priests questioned Anz as to the blade's whereabouts, but he would only say that the six swords had not left the world of man, and were only waiting for the right hand to carry them.
Ages have passed since that battle. Several heroes have carried one of the shadow-blades, but no hero has held two or more since the death of Andor. Anz remains silent about the whereabouts of the blades, saying only that they will be ready when they are needed.
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